


to be the great king

by Angel_Demon_Princess



Series: "thank you for these three years" - a collection of stories [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Gen, I feel like I'm forgetting things, M/M, Oikawa Tooru-centric, Seijou, the author also regrets nothing and everything simultaneously, the author can't tag, the other characters are only mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 08:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12055551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Demon_Princess/pseuds/Angel_Demon_Princess
Summary: Oikawa Tooru, a story told through volleyball(formerly titled "through the years")





	to be the great king

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy!

It started as it always had, with him and Iwaizumi.

They played volleyball through the day and into the night during summer, learning and improving.

They made a good team, a setter and his ace.

-

They chose a middle school, Kitagawa Daichi, and enrolled.

Both of them made the volleyball team.

Oikawa was the starting setter.

-

Quickly, he made a name for himself.

"Genius, self-taught setter leads team to victory."

It didn't feel like enough.

-

Second year came and went, nothing worth mentioning.

In his third year, there came another setter.

First year, Kageyama Tobio. Genius.

-

Undoubtedly, he was good.

Oikawa was still better.

But for how long? How long until he caught up?

Terror wrapped around his heart like a snake, releasing poison into his veins with the pain of insecurity. It suffocated him.

-

Kageyama continued to improve exponentially in so short a time.

The snake squeezed tighter and tighter until he was left gasping on the floor of the gym, shaking and fruitlessly trying to convince him of his superiority over the younger.

Because he was better, wasn't he?

-

His third year of middle school didn't go well.

He fought with Iwaizumi more than he ever had before, his relationship with his best friend was strained by his obsession to best Kageyama and his insecurity in his own skill.

He stayed later, practiced more, tried harder.

But Kageyama kept improving.

-

Oikawa fell behind.

-

In a mess of a match, a mess of him falling apart, a mess of Kageyama replacing him.

Sitting on the bench with pain brewing in his chest, he watched.

They won.

-

Later, he almost punched Kageyama in his anger.

Iwaizumi stopped him.

He always did.

-

High school was a fresh start, a chance for him to make a name for himself and to improve.

He met interesting new people--Hanamaki, Matsukawa--and they meshed well with his own friendship with Iwaizumi.

It was easy, familiar.

Happy.

-

At Interhigh, they got through the prelims and fought their way to the final.

Standing on the court with his team as starting setter, he held his head high against Shiratorizawa, confident in his own abilities.

They would go to Nationals.

-

They didn't go to Nationals.

Shiratorizawa crushed them, with their eccentric middle blocker and stoic setter.

With the monster ace Ushijima.

-

Later that night Iwaizumi found him in the gym, trying to drown out the words of Shiratorizawa's unbeatable ace.

_"You should have come to Shiratorizawa."_

-

The third years graduated, and they left him and the other first-years-now-second-years with promises to get to Nationals this year.

Summer passed in a whirlwind of volleyball practices.

-

Second year started and new faces appeared. Kyotani, Yahaba, Watari--all new members of the volleyball team.

They were good, and Oikawa ignored the feeling of a snake tightening around his heart when he saw Yahaba set.

This wasn't middle school.

-

They made it the finals again this year, and faced off against Shiratorizawa.

The middle blocker was joined by a new setter and another blocker, and Ushijima spiked the balls harder than ever.

They didn't go to Nationals this year either.

-

(Oikawa saw the former setter on the sideline of the match, watched as he bit his lips and clenched his hands as the match progressed, following the ball with a hungry gaze.

He tried to forget the memory of another match a few years ago, when he was that setter standing on the side with the genius first year replacing him.

They weren't the same.

This wasn't the same.

He wouldn't be the same.)

-

If he ignored Yahaba when the younger tried to speak with him later that day, then no one would know why.

He ignored the tightness in his chest and the pinched look on Iwaizumi's face.

This wasn't the same.

He was fine.

-

The third years left, this time leaving him with captaincy.

He swore he would take the team to Nationals this year.

He wouldn't have another chance.

-

This summer passed much like the last, with volleyball practices and long nights spent chatting with his fellow second-now-third years.

He ignored the increasing pain in his knee.

-

School started, and they got two new members, both former players of Kitagawa Daichi who played with Kageyama. Neither were setters.

Oikawa tried to ignore the sickening relief he felt at the news.

-

Their first practice match was against Karasuno. Against the fallen crows now rising again.

Kageyama stood on the other side of the net.

  
-

They won, and Oikawa tried to laugh off the lingering worry that came with Kageyama's presence.

They won.

-

The year continued, normal.

They began to grow into a team, becoming friends among the long practices and weekend hangouts. His smile reached his eyes and his laughter became more sincere as they grew closer.

He continued to practice, ignoring the growing pain in his knee.

-

Karasuno, which began as a faint whisper in the distance, grew to a murmur of rumors surrounding the genius first year setter and his little giant.

The crows began to fly, repairing their broken wings with fresh new members.

The snake tightened.

-

They played Karasuno again in the Winter Tournament.

It was close, too close.

-

The summer came, and with it the prelims.

They beat Dateko, crushing the Iron Wall to get to the semifinals.

Kageyama stood on the other side of the net.

-

Oikawa swore he would get to Nationals.

He would lead his team to the finals.

This was the year they would make it. They had to.

-

The set extended into over time, and Oikawa played more desperately than he ever had in his life. His knee almost buckled from the pain, but he threw everything he had into the game, into his one last chance to get to Nationals.

He pulled out every trick in the book; Kageyama matched him each time.

The ball dropped in front of him.

He's never felt more empty.

-

Surrounded by his teammates, crying from the pain of yet another too-close so-far loss, Oikawa felt helpless. He failed them once again.

History was doomed to repeat itself, Oikawa figured.

-

"You should have come to Shiratorizawa."

The words echoed in the empty hallway, Ushijima's voice loud and bold.

"I do not regret my decision," he shot back fiercely.

Ushijima's gaze remained unfaltering, as though he knew it was a lie.

-

_'I regret not being enough to win.'_

-

Iwaizumi told him not to go to watch the finals the following morning.

Oikawa didn't listen.

He had to see it, he had to know.

-

Karasuno won, and Oikawa didn't know how he felt about it.

Was it happiness?

No.

-

They graduated, Oikawa with his knee in a brace.

Hanamaki and Matsukawa, joined at the hip, were going to college only twenty minutes from Iwaizumi's and his. He smiled at the news, glad he wouldn't lose his friends.

Seijou would have Yahaba as captain, and Oikawa felt confident in his junior's ability to lead the team.

He couldn't wait to cheer for them next year at Nationals.

-

Later that day, they had their last practice as a team.

In his last speech, he thanked them for all their hard work.

With tears in his eyes, he bowed, and shouts echoed through the gym for the last time.

"Thank you for these three years!"

-

High school was over.

He didn't make it.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you thought! I love reading your comments! xox
> 
> (Also y'all, I hate this publishing program??? So much??)


End file.
